Die Kinder der Toten

15/09 – 15/10

Meeting point: VAZ Mürzer Oberland

The Nature Theater of Oklahoma ventures the impossible: creating a film version of Elfriede Jelinek’s novel “Die Kinder der Toten”. Filming around Neuberg an der Mürz is, at the same time, a live performance. Anyone who wants can come along and watch and, above all, join in!

29/09 – 15/10

VAZ Mürzer Oberland

Anyone who wants to ascend Elfriede Jelinek’s magnum opus is invited to the Veranstaltungszentrum Mürzer Oberland. Food and drink, cinema and literature – and many an unforgettable night – await the brave members of the expedition in this Base Camp.

29/09 – 01/10, 06/10 – 08/10 & 13/10 – 15/10

VAZ Mürzer Oberland

666 pages of Jelinek in 144 hours as a collective reading experience. On three weekends, steirischer herbst invites the audience to take part in a public reading of “ Die Kinder der Toten” from cover to cover. Again and again.

Meeting point: VAZ Mürzer Oberland

Sat 24/09 & 19/10 – 21/10

Graz

Literaturhaus Graz bookends this year’s Jelinek theme: a matinée on the first weekend of the festival will get you in the mood for the magnum opus, while a symposium following the festival provides fresh fodder for anyone who hasn’t gone far enough with Jelinek yet.

Video

Premiere

Sat 30/09, 21.30 & Sat 14/10, 18.30

78’

19 €

Suitable for ages 12+

Asked for her favourite films, Elfriede Jelinek’s first choice is Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, followed, just as promptly, by “Carnival of Souls”, a B picture by Herk Harvey. The black-and-white film from 1962 (whose title in German is literally “The Dance of the Dead Souls”) is a powerful variation on Jelinek’s pet themes: a woman who cannot (or will not) connect up with her old life and job; a conservative environment that takes a negative view of this unwillingness; the “fantastic” misunderstandings to which this leads.

The protagonist of this film is the young organist Mary Henry, who is strangely unmoved when she finds herself surprisingly becoming invisible and inaudible to the rest of the world. A living person, according to Jelinek, who is depicted “as a dead person and yet more alive than any living person”. Or is she really already dead? A film like a cold ghostly hand that runs softly, gently even, down your neck from the seat behind you in the cinema…

Wolfgang Mitterer, organist and composer, recently acclaimed for his score for Michael Glawogger’s posthumous film “Untitled”, responds to this favourite film with a live improvisation. What was it Der Standard wrote about his dialogue with the classic film “Nosferatu” some years ago: “Skull-cap raising!”

Wolfgang Mitterer, born in Lienz in 1958, is a Vienna-based composer and sound artist. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (organ, composition) and the Elektronmusikstudion/EMS in Stockholm (electroacoustics). Since then Mitterer has been regarded as one of Austria’s most significant contemporary musicians. Focusing on electronic music and improvised music, he has already collaborated with outstanding figures of the genre, including David Liebman and Christian Fennesz. In addition to his work as a composer and session musician Mitterer has also created a number of sound installations, collages and soundtracks. Several of his pieces have been presented at the steirischer herbst festival, most recently in 2002 as part of the “Ground Zero” project.

Die Kinder der Toten

15/09 – 15/10

Meeting point: VAZ Mürzer Oberland

The Nature Theater of Oklahoma ventures the impossible: creating a film version of Elfriede Jelinek’s novel “Die Kinder der Toten”. Filming around Neuberg an der Mürz is, at the same time, a live performance. Anyone who wants can come along and watch and, above all, join in!

29/09 – 15/10

VAZ Mürzer Oberland

Anyone who wants to ascend Elfriede Jelinek’s magnum opus is invited to the Veranstaltungszentrum Mürzer Oberland. Food and drink, cinema and literature – and many an unforgettable night – await the brave members of the expedition in this Base Camp.

29/09 – 01/10, 06/10 – 08/10 & 13/10 – 15/10

VAZ Mürzer Oberland

666 pages of Jelinek in 144 hours as a collective reading experience. On three weekends, steirischer herbst invites the audience to take part in a public reading of “ Die Kinder der Toten” from cover to cover. Again and again.

Meeting point: VAZ Mürzer Oberland

Sat 24/09 & 19/10 – 21/10

Graz

Literaturhaus Graz bookends this year’s Jelinek theme: a matinée on the first weekend of the festival will get you in the mood for the magnum opus, while a symposium following the festival provides fresh fodder for anyone who hasn’t gone far enough with Jelinek yet.